A Life Surrendered to God | Francis Chan at Life Mission Church

all right good evening it is such an honor to be with you and i got to say the same about pastor clint when i met him i thought i aspire to be that good looking when i'm his age that was the first thing i thought and then i thought this is a kindred heart a kindred spirit the more we've connected with your church over the last number of months i thought this is family your passion for prayer your passion for mission your passion for discipleship and local church guys this is a remarkable community feeling the faith in the room tonight as we worship i am so excited about what god's doing here and what he's doing in your region and the sand i'm going to share very briefly just so that we can give as much time as possible to francis but the send was really started with a simple word from the lord and that word was that a massive sending movement was coming to america and the sending not being limited to america but to the globe but that the greatest days of harvest were still ahead of us the greatest spiritual awakening for our nation we're still ahead of us and i know i'm in good company when i say that i know you believe and you carry the same conviction in your heart that the headlines don't have the corner on the kingdom of god god is moving in amazing ways and he is looking for a church who will lift their eyes to him and believe that the harvest is ripe and to live like the harvest is ripe the sin was based on this simple word and then we began to walk forward the simple vision the vision was to see two hundred thousand new missionaries launched into the nations of the earth seven thousand unre remaining uh remaining unreached people groups how many believe it would be of god's heart that the very term unreached would cease to exist after this generation believe it all of our hearts that this sending movement is upon us that there is a generation alive right now that is zealous to go anywhere in the world for the sake of the gospel but we also believe that god is calling us to the re-evangelization of our own nations believe that every high school in america is a mission field every university in america is a mission field believe that god is calling the church to activate and to foster care and adoption like perhaps no generation in human history we've been praying god make young millennials and gen z the most adoptive generation in history who would take on the marginalized children of the world that the lord would set the lonely in families so this vision gripped us 2019 we went after our first stadium gathering in orlando florida 60 000 people largely young adults gathered and thousands and thousands made commitments to the nations to reach their high schools their universities foster care and adoption all of these mission fields we were stunned by what god did right after orlando the lord spoke clearly to us to go to brazil for orlando was remarkable god took things supernova when we went to brazil we rented a stadium it filled to capacity in six hours eight months before the event so we rented a second stadium it filled over the weekend so we rented a third stadium and in early 2020 we gathered 150 000 brazilians in three stadiums and i need you to know tonight that was not because of marketing that was not because of some well-known speaker or some great band that's because god is moving on the earth and he is jealous for the great commission to be the center of the conversation of global christianity and i believe he's doing it a hundred thousand missional commitments were made in brazil the average age of those that gathered was 24 years old and we believe that out of brazil a massive missions movement is rising that will not only touch the nation the continent but the nations of the earth on this journey the lord spoke to us and said that the next location in america would be kansas city that all arrows were pointed to arrowhead stadium and so 11 months from now in early june 2022 we will be gathering an arrowhead stadium because we believe that god's eyes are on this region right now and that the eyes of the nation and the eyes of the world are going to gather here in kansas city for something that would be so loud a sound of ghosts so loud that the whole world would have to hear it when i walked into arrowhead stadium the first time getting a tour i saw this sign that boasted that the loudest human decibel that had ever been recorded was recorded in arrowhead stadium and i felt the lord say wouldn't it be like me to break the record for the loudest sound that has ever been recorded in human history and it wouldn't be for a touchdown but it would be for jesus a great awakening and the great commissioning i believe that's the hour we're in so we want to invite you to join us we have come to serve this city we've come to build friendship and family we don't want to be event that just shows up and then disappears we want to walk in relationship and believe that what happens in arrowhead stadium would touch kansas city and that it would activate and mobilize kansas city to touch the ends of the earth what i just want to say is um we really want to honor um we really want to honor pastor clint we really want to honor the pastors of this city and we really want to honor you as the believers that have tilled the ground here for many many years and we recognize and be the first to say we're not coming bringing anything god's doing something here and we want to join it we want to serve it and we want to see it touch the nations of the earth so you can register at the send.org you can pre-register there but we have an amazing night here we've already had an amazing night and many of you know francis chan doesn't need much of an introduction but it's been a remarkable uh several year journey where we've really had the privilege of growing a deep friendship and uh francis is one of those guys that was a hero for many years and you don't really ever think your heroes will become your friends and then sometimes when your heroes do become your friends they're not quite the hero that you thought they were but i have to say that francis was absolutely the opposite that the more that i got to know francis the more i amazed i was by his humility his character his radical obedience to jesus and uh we're so privileged to be running this road together to be journeying together and so i love it if you just welcome francis as he comes to share with us tonight [Applause] guys i am so full right now um god has been doing some crazy things over the last three days i'm serious okay i'm not exaggerating i don't know what is going on in kansas city okay i know we're doing the send event i know where it you know there's been a lot of talk about kansas city but i'm telling you i've been walking with jesus for 40 years now okay i i fell in love with jesus when i was in high school and i've been walking with him for 40 years and studying this book almost every single day okay for 40 years and teaching out of this book i don't know how many thousands of times and for my entire christian life there's always been like this i don't get it like i i see this power i see this radical like god and and everything that should happen and everything that did happen in the old testament things that happened in the new testament things he promises for this age and and i every once in a while i get glimpses of it i see some here here here and it's been growing growing growing but there's always been like this gap between this book and what i experienced in church in conferences in mission trips wherever i went these last three days it's the first time when everything has come together in my life you guys i i've been freaking out seriously these last couple of days because i'm going i've never experienced anything like this like all day long and there is no way i can communicate in 30 minutes everything god has done and these last couple of days and what i believe he's doing right now based in kansas city it seriously is freaking me out you guys and i'm praying over there during worship and this is the first time i've prayed this before coming up i'm just going god with everything i experienced these last few days could it be possible that i walk up on that stage so believing that your holy spirit is with me and that the resurrected christ is right here with me and that i am abiding in him could it possibly be that you would bless me with a spiritual gift on that stage that i've never had that i don't even know what it would be and i walked up here nervous a little bit scared because i'm going god i'm not scared to get in front of a crowd i'm not scared that oh people might not like me or they it's not that i'm i'm scared that i'm going to come up here and preach some sermon from the past and just kind of do what i always do not always i say what i often do and go back to what's comfortable to me because god has been doing a new work in my life and i'm going god i don't want to revert back and it's so scary this is what i was nervous about when i get in front of a crowd which is almost every day of my life there's something that can click off and i'll start being concerned about what you think giving you a good experience giving you a good message where you walk away and go that was good rather than truly abiding in christ and going god i want to be filled by your spirit every second i want to be abiding in you every second i want to be courageous courageous enough to say anything you want to come out of this mouth whatever if everyone hates me so be it come what may right didn't we just sing that i will obey i'm just i just want that and um don't please don't let me go back don't let me just go back to what i know will work because i know i can give a message that'll get you leaving this room and go oh that was good whatever but my fear is that would happen tonight and you walk out experience francis chan's preaching rather than truly experiencing the holy spirit of god and i was i was thinking about this verse you know it says in first corinthians chapter one where this this was hitting me during worship actually while andy was speaking i wasn't paying attention what are you saying it it said uh in first corinthians 1 verse 17 it says christ had not sent me to baptize but to preach the gospel and not with words of eloquent wisdom lest the cross of christ be emptied of its power so there's a warning here where he's saying okay god didn't send me to baptize so he could say oh i was baptized by paul he sent me to preach the gospel and not with words of eloquent wisdom lest the cross of christ be emptied of its power and god was showing me if you go back to an illustration you know will work or a story you know will grip their hearts and you use your eloquent speech he goes you're going to empty the power of the cross so don't revert back to that this is this is what he says later in in in chapter 2 in verse 1 he says i when i came to you brothers i did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of god with lofty speech or wisdom for i decided to know nothing among you except jesus christ and him crucified i was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of god so if i give some speech here that talks you into following jesus because i timed it all out right and ended with the right story and changed the inflection of my voice and just just nailed it nailed it nailed it and talked you into something then some other guy as you walk out the door or some some college professor will give another equally eloquent speech with probably more intelligence and talk you right out of what i said because your conversion or supposed conversion was something i talked you into by my own intellect and it was born paul says in that way on the wisdom of men and not the power of god but if i could be connected with the spirit of god tonight today sorry for those of you watching on sunday i blew it i'm not supposed to do that okay today um see ya i'm not eloquent this is good uh okay but if today i could truly be possessed by the holy spirit and the holy spirit like god from heaven today literally does something and changes your heart you can't be swayed by another human being something of god will be born inside of you where i don't care who tries to talk you out of it they can't like something happened to me in high school and no matter what the enemy or the world tried to convince me of it didn't work it hasn't worked for 40 years why because it wasn't some youth pastor it was through a youth pastor but it really wasn't him something was born in me and got rooted in me and so i couldn't walk away from it was the bible says when the holy spirit enters in you then you become a slave to righteousness and so suddenly it's like he didn't even have to tell me to walk away from my sin every time i started gravitating toward it i just felt dirty and i couldn't live with myself because god did something in me you know in second peter too it talks about how how uh a dog returns to its vomit and a pig you you can wash him off but after he's he's been washed off he'll just run back to the mud i've actually seen that happen you know even though i live in the city i saw one guy in one city far away who had a pig and he washed it off and the moment it was clean it started running for the mud and he he literally the big guy like tackled his pig you know and i mean you guys probably all have pigs but uh it it some of you probably do okay but it it was the first time i saw him like whoa they really do that they really can't stand being clean at least his couldn't i was like that's just like that passage says like and what happens in the church a lot of times is we we spray you off through eloquent speech i've done it so many times through a great story or whatever else and then we try to keep you clean with accountability groups and partners that are with spray bottles to keep you clean and the moment that week they don't give you a call what do you do you run back to the mud why why does the pig run back to the mud because it's a pig it's what they do but what the holy spirit does is he can actually change your nature where in the inside you're no longer a pig in fact something changed and you go i don't like mud anymore i like i see it and and and there's this temptation sometimes but the moment my feet get a little bit muddy i go i don't know why i can't stand this anymore because something was born of the spirit it was a demonstration of the spirit's power that no human being can now take you away from and so i'm praying and going god i don't want to speak in the flesh ever again i want to talk in the power of the spirit and tell you that i fell in love with jesus 40 years ago and it changed my life i'm not saying it's been perfect i'm not saying i haven't gotten my feet muddied but i'm telling you whenever i do it grosses me out it feels dark it just there's no peace and i've got to get out and clean myself off because i'm a slave to righteousness because something happened inside and i can't create that i can't make that happen and that's why i pray i go god i don't know what you want to say or do in this room today but yeah and with everyone watching from wherever i don't know you you don't know me oh god right now i pray i pray that you continue to guide my lips to say what you want me to say but more importantly for everyone that can hear my voice that your holy spirit right now would speak to them convict them encourage them change them so that within their inner person they would long for you that no one would have to tell them and beg them to read your word and to pray to you but everything inside is like well what else would i want to do and who else would i rather speak to because your spirit is in them and you jealously yearn for the spirit you've placed in them god would you do that so they would naturally long for holiness that those who are in inappropriate relationships i don't have to give a talk about it even right now but that your spirit would gross them out that they would realize that they're giving up holding your hand to hold some that they're giving up looking into the eyes of jesus to look at a screen of pornography and they would just be grossed out that those who are living life for this earth would go whoa there's something so much bigger to live for oh father would you please send your holy spirit to awaken them right now in jesus name right before i came to kansas city i uh i was in alaska for the first time i actually went to andy's hometown to meet the people he grew up with to ask them if he's for real now he's kind of set me up with some of his friends i said i and the reason why was i was like hey i looked at my kids i've got seven kids two grandkids um so my oldest are like married kids and but i still have like a couple teenagers like a 10 or 11 year old i don't remember and uh and a six-year-old so i've got like still a lot of kids and uh and i was just so burdened for my kids because i'm realizing one's going to be a senior in high school one's going to be a junior my daughter and son and i'm i'm going wow i might only have a year left with them and i'm looking at the world where it's headed where it is right now and i'm thinking back to when i was in high school i know you always hear this from old people like it wasn't like that on monday you know and it really wasn't and even in raising my 25 year old is totally completely different than raising my six-year-old he's growing up in a different world and i'm realizing my my teenagers whom i love that's when my life turned around i'm going gosh you guys don't you your minds are so like going so fast be because of this and you you i i see it like it's so rare to find a teenager who can pray who can be alone for for 10 minutes and try to focus on god and not have their mind wander because this thing has just triggered us to constant stimulation so you close your eyes to pray and there are just so many thoughts that go running through your mind and it's just normal to you and you know nothing else and i love my kids so much man i am crazy about my kids and i'm looking at my younger ones and go god i don't know if they're gonna make it i don't know if they know how to pray i don't know if there's like this deep like i remember as a high school student crying out to you and being focused and zoned in on you but i didn't have this we didn't have this and i just told my kids i go i i gotta do something because i just need to get you away because i love you guys so much and so we're going to go to alaska and you're not allowed to take your cell phones they're in fact no screens whatsoever no ipads no television no media nothing i go you're gonna talk to me and we're gonna have a blast and we're going to go out into nature and we're going to go look at bears or walruses whatever's there i've never been you know but we're going to do that and i want you because i go you guys i want you to know how to pray if this is my last season on this earth there's no guarantee my dad died when i was 12 my mom died when i was born i don't know when it's going to be the end for me and i go i'm looking at this world and i just love you guys and i want you to make it and i but you've got to know how to pray you've got to learn how to just connect but you don't even know how to talk to people very well even when you talk you're like oh yeah it's like there's a way of connecting to another human being and there's a way of connecting to god that i just want you to taste it i want you just to see that the real life real relationships with human beings and god like it's awesome i tell you you will not miss this by the end you'll go through withdrawals you might shake you may it initially but i'm telling you you're gonna like it i'm gonna make you like it you're gone and it's been wonderful it's been so good in fact when i left alaska three days ago you know i met all these alaskan you know fishermen stuff like that and i was like hey can i leave my son here can i throw him on a fishing boat and because i hear you guys just work and never sleep and like just for a couple weeks you don't even have to pay him you know like i'll pay him afterwards some whatever i just want him to experience like hard work like my generation grew up with and all of your gender you know i i just want him to experience life with people and nature and god and so i left him there and uh he's on a boat somewhere on some ocean the arctic or whatever is up there and you guys i'm doing this because i love my kids you know seriously i'm going man i i'm just telling myself we're texting now i said okay now you can use your phone but only to text you know no entertainment whatever it's just kind of weird to have him on a boat in an ocean and i don't know where he is so i said well we'll keep in touch but you guys i'm so excited um about what god's gonna do in his life what he's doing in my other children's lives and the rest of my family it's here in kansas city because something is happening for this and what god has shown me is this is why i'm so pumped up about the send and being a part of it is all about raising up the next generation of you guys you know seriously you guys i've been married 27 years and on my 25th anniversary my wife looks at me at dinner and 25 in there 25 25-yard she goes do you know of anyone happier than us like on the entire earth i go no and she goes me neither and i go like she goes i keep thinking i'll meet someone happier than us and i haven't found them i go me neither like that's an amazing thing to hear on your 25-year anniversary right and really mean it to each other and and i want that i want that i i want that for you i want that for this generation and and god's been showing me that this last couple of weeks and really these last few years that this next season of my life is not about what francis chan is going to do it is all about me becoming less and less and less and decreasing and helping to build up this next generation by by telling you what what will lead to life which is what jesus says i came to bring you life there's a thief who's gonna try to steal your time he's gonna try to kill and destroy he's it's a thief who's robbing you of life and jesus i came to give you life and life to the full there's this this life you can experience and i've been experiencing these last few days and i'm begging you parents man there comes a point where you just let go of any dreams for yourself and you're okay now it's time to build into this next generation and get them serious about and what crazy thing i was with a friend today that i haven't seen forever and he lives here in kansas city and uh he was telling andy and i like he made a deal with his kids i'm like well i've never heard anything like this but he's filthy rich so he can do it but he said uh he said to his kids when they went into high school because i heard you can drive earlier here like 14 or something like that and he goes if you agree to just have a flip phone i will buy you any car you want he says we'll go to verizon right now get a flip phone and then we'll go to any car dealer and you can buy any car you want but the moment you go to a smartphone i'm taking the keys away and you're on your own like that's awesome you know i mean and his daughter who was hesitant he brought home like catalogs from maserati lamborghini going you sure like it's just but this is he's like i don't know if i did the right thing but i just don't want my kid doing this because it'll kill them okay and don't go looking at your parents going why don't you do that yeah but i that's that wasn't my point my point was there are some of us who are older and we can see what this is doing to you there's this flow that is pulling you it's just it's so hard to go against it and the worst part is okay i really believe that jesus is coming soon i really believe this and we were talking about this day see when i was your age i keep looking at you guys because you look like you're in high school i hope you're not you sorry i can tell you're not okay um but uh i mean you'll probably look young for your age and great but uh okay but uh what was i talking about darn it okay okay okay okay i really believe the end is coming and when i was your age growing up in america i did not think about things like the send and spending my life on mission i was scared of being a missionary it just it was for this small group of of honestly in my mind strange people that that that maybe had no other thing to do because because in my generation we were still obsessed with the american dream and we were thinking oh i'm gonna have a big house i know what i'll do i'll be like a youth pastor or pastor and you know and you know get a bunch of fans and you know and and then get a nice little thing if i'm gonna go into ministry at all whatever but the missionary thing no because there was still this american dream thing and what i love is i think you guys are growing up in a generation that knows no there's no such thing as the american dream we don't even know if they'll be in america in 10 years the way things are going it is nuts the world is insane we don't know what is happening it's going so fast that you're not dreaming of 50 years of stability right you're just thinking there's no such thing on the earth anymore and it's just i i don't you know if i wanted to keep my kids safe i don't even know where i'd send them it's that this show you don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow and and there's a good thing about that that you know you're gonna just have to spend your life on something rather than yourself if you're just trying to preserve your life and save your life see in my generation we were still thinking about saving our lives but you're growing up in a generation that recognizes where the world is going and what's going on i've never seen anything like it what's happening in the world today and how fast everything is happening and so you've got to decide what am i going to do with my short time on earth i have a purpose and i'm just going to fulfill it and then i'm going to go home to heaven and it is easier to think that way despite all the craziness there's an advantage the world is so gross and crazy that you recognize this this can't be my home i can't make a home here so let me spend it let me be sent wherever you call me god but the only way you're going to find that out is if you can understand first peter 4 7. it says the end of all things is at hand therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers he says the end of all things is at hand therefore you would think that if he says hey the world's going to end the world's going to end you think okay i better go do something he goes no the end of all things is at hand therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers see we usually think of prayer as a means to an end where i pray and go god i'm praying because i want this to happen and then and that is part of prayer but we think of okay i want i'm going to pray so that this will happen but that's not what this verse is saying he says the end of all things is at hand and he says therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers the goal is a clear prayer life okay it's the goal it's not the means to an end so that when christ returns because the end is coming you want to be one of those young men young women that your mind is fixed on him that you've shown and that only happens if you have self-control that you didn't watch 30 tick-tock videos or whatever you call them is it videos tock tick tocks okay sorry okay i i'm not very woke okay so you just go i just watched 15 tick tocks next time i give this talk i'm gonna go wild guys cool um we always say it wrong old people um and so you but you don't have the self-control oh everyone just watched that one everyone just saw this everything i got i got to see it's self-control because i don't have to look at that i don't go down to everyone else's level i want to go up to his level and i can't go to his level unless i have self-control so that i can be clear-minded so that i can actually pray and then as i speak with god he's going to give me direction for how i spend the remainder of this time there's an old i think it's african proverb or whatever i don't know as a proverb whatever just never mind who cares okay there's this thing i don't even know what you call it there's this old lesson like about these two candles you ever heard about the big candle and the little candle um but uh there's like this big candle and the small candle and it's like okay this is me and my son and then you go okay you most people assume the big candle is the dad and the little candle is the sun but no that's not true the little candle is me i've burnt down to where there's just a little bit left the stupidest thing for me to do is try to keep this flame alive the best thing i can do with my life as that little candle that who knows how much longer this flame is going to burn is let me invest my life in lighting these full-grown candles that have their whole lives whatever is left of this time on earth and lighting those and begging you to be if my goal is not that just my light would shine bright but that there would be a light on this earth that stays burning then i need to invest whatever is left of me not holding up this shriveled little tiny candle go look at francis chan but for me to spend my days going man i want to light you on fire cause you got your whole life in front of you and i'm begging you look you guys you're gonna waste it if you're just obsessed with keeping up and doing what everyone else is doing look at everyone else's family look at everyone else's marriages look at everything else that's going is that really what you want and i'm just telling you from a grandfather's perspective man i've had a ridiculous life and it has just gotten crazier in the last couple of days where i'm going just when i thought like i said a couple years ago my wife and i go we're the happiest people on the earth this week i'm going i don't even know what happiness was i i didn't even get it like i'm getting it i mean that doesn't come from going with the flow and i'm telling you right now there's a mission for you guys and i'm i saw so many of my friends miss it and stick with the dream rather than losing their life to truly find it and i'm asking you who are older like maybe you did waste a lot of your years pursuing the same dream than many of us did back then and at the very least use what's left now to warn the generation this generation against wasting their lives because you know some of us have some serious regrets i could have done so much more that's a great message to give to the next generation don't feel the shame in it don't just just let it go okay what's done is done but knowing what we know about the future let's protect this next generation and let's send them out and not be obsessed with them living a long comfortable life on the earth because you and i know that's a myth given our day and age and let's pray for a serious movement of young people who spend their lives well and have their minds focused on an eternal god [Applause] i want to pray right now because i don't want this to be a speech i don't want this to last for another five minutes where you think that was a good idea and then go back to the mud i want to pray that something is seriously lit in you okay that is of the spirit father thank you for opening some of our eyes there is no time to screw around anymore and be lukewarm there is no time for that anymore god may we learn that from covid may we learn that from all the things that are going on every time we look at the news may we just see that it really feels like the end is near and that's a great great thing god i pray for this next generation that you would help them to be self-controlled and clear-minded so they can just stare at you in heaven so that their ears can their spiritual ears can hear what you are saying to them as individuals and what the purpose of their existence is they don't get swept away by all the noise of the world and where everyone else is going because your word says that wide and easy is the gate that leads to destruction but difficult and narrow is the life is is the road that leads to life and few will find it i pray that some of the young people who hear my voice will truly be hearing your voice and walk that narrow and difficult road that leads to life that your holy spirit would birth something in them right now so they can't be talked out of it because you sent your son to die for us you are a good holy loving god you are our treasure and we cannot wait to spend eternity with you it's gonna be outrageous far beyond anything we've experienced on this earth we trust your word we believe it holy spirit please birth something in jesus name amen you

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Length: 49min 36sec (2976 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 30 2021